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KIM IN THE CARIBBEAN CRUISE 2025 PART 2, NORTHWARD
Vegetable Supermarket, St Lucia On 2nd January we had a horrid trip from Tobago Cays to Bequia, dead to windward, motoring. With her...
Jun 97 min read


KIM IN THE CARIBBEAN CRUISE 2025 PART 1, NORTHWARD - BERYL AND THE HEDGE FUND MAN
Tobago Cays On 29th December 2024, Kim left Prickly Bay, Grenada bound for Tortola, about 500 miles to the north north west. Kim could...
May 66 min read


“BARNACLED AND GREEN AS GRASS BELOW”
Kim Lifted by Grenada Marine's Travelift I was reminded of this line from Henry Newbold’s poem “The Old Superb” when Grenada Marine’s...
Apr 272 min read


AN EXTRAORDINARY DAY
Moon Rising Over St Kitts It was early morning* in the Anse Colombier, on the north coast of the small island of St Barthelemy, and...
Mar 254 min read


INSPIRATION FOR GULF OF LIONS
Entrance to Rabat/Sale - The Kasbah of the Udyas Do the locations inspire the story, or does the story give meaning to the locations? I...
Feb 234 min read


SAILING OPTIONS
Options at Port St Louis du Rhone In 2023, when we were working on Kim at Port Napoleon, we rented an apartment in Port St Louis du...
Jan 133 min read


OVERHAULING KIM’S LIFTING KEEL HYDRAULIC RAM
Kim's Keel It seems to me that if you’re going to have ballast, it may as well be in the right place, and the lifting keel of our...
Jan 85 min read


KIM'S CRUISE 2024, PART 3 – LANZAROTE TO GRENADA, WEST INDIES
Crew Member Ed and the "Angry Ensign" in a Squall Kim stayed at Puerto Calero marina in Lanzarote while we returned to England. On the...
Jan 87 min read


ORCA ALLEY - SOME PRECAUTIONS
"Kango" Type Hammer with Special Bit This is an account of the precautions we took to avoid interactions as we left the Mediterranean...
Jan 86 min read


KIM'S CRUISE 2024, PART 2 – MOROCCO TO LANZAROTE
Kim rounded Cape Spartel, the north westerly point of Africa on the morning of 31st July, and sailed out into the broad blue waters of...
Nov 11, 20246 min read


KIM'S CRUISE 2024, PART 1 - ANDALUSIA TO MOROCCO
We’ve had an interesting summer cruise in Kadash aka “ Kim ”, our 40' aluminium sailboat. As usual, there was work to be done when we...
Sep 14, 20243 min read


THE ALHAMBRA REVISITED - AFTER 100 YEARS
We have a small number of pictures painted by my wife's grandmother that we framed and hung on the walls of our house. Sally’s...
Jun 8, 20243 min read


A WALK ROUND PORTLAND
At the end of a long pebble beach in Dorset, England, is the Isle of Portland, a rugged limestone promontory. Portland is the home of...
Apr 5, 20243 min read


MURAT - EUROPE'S FIRST HORSEMAN
Murat King of Naples by Francis Gerand The French Revolution, as do all revolutions, gave opportunities to able men and women, Napoleon...
Feb 17, 20244 min read


NAPOLEON'S THREE ISLANDS
I’ve been lucky enough to visit three islands associated with Napoleon Bonaparte – the island of his birth, Corsica – and the two islands...
Dec 28, 20236 min read


NEW NOVEL - "CAPE CORSE"
My new novel, “Cape Corse”, has just been published, available here on Amazon: Cape Corse. As I explained in a previous blog, it was...
Nov 2, 20232 min read


INSPIRATION FOR NEW NOVEL "CAPE CORSE"
The inspiration for my latest book, “Cape Corse”, came during our 2022 visit to Corsica in our sailing boat Kim. Arrival in Calvi after...
Oct 7, 20233 min read


THE THRUST BLOCK - A REMARKABLE BUT UNREMARKED INVENTION
Kipling’s MacAndrew’s Hymn is one of my favourite poems, probably because I used to be a marine engineer. This is an extract: Fra...
Sep 24, 20232 min read


KIM'S CRUISE 2023 - PART 1
Our objective for 2023 was to take Kadash, AKA Kim, our 40’ aluminium lift keel yacht, from Port Napoleon at the mouth of the Rhone,...
Sep 13, 20234 min read


DAVID BROWN 885 TRACTOR
A few years ago, I inherited responsibility for the upkeep of the family field near Corfe Castle, in Dorset. Dorset Wildlife Trust...
May 16, 20234 min read
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